IBM today said it plans to buy Unica (NASDAQ: UNCA), a provider of interactive marketing analytics, in a move that aims to beef up IBM’s own business intelligence, CRM and analytics portfolio. The deal values each share of Unica at…
Article courtesy of ECommerce-Guide.com. Online sellers can better manage their e-mail marketing in sync with Web site analytics, thanks to a new partnership between NetIQ and ExactTarget. NetIQ, of course, is the company behind WebTrends, one of the leaders in…
Enabling shoppers to customize their sought-after products can be a great way to increase sales and boost customer satisfaction. But for merchants selling through eBay, it’s nigh-impossible to offer customization within product listings — till now, that is. That’s because…
Providing live sales support in connection your eBay sales is a great way to make a pitch or clinch the sale for uncertain buyers — but one of its major limitations is the cost of simply being making live help…
A slew of large enterprises have integrated instant messaging and chat into their online customer relationship management solutions — but the benefits of real-time communication are increasingly moving to smaller markets. Case in point: Los Angeles-based Qualté has amassed relatively…
E-mail marketing shop Bigfoot Interactive will move into the arena of customer relationship management, through a new deal with the CRM software unit of Tokyo-based technology giant Fujitsu Ltd. New York-based Bigfoot, which markets a both full-service consultancy and ASP…
Online marketing analytics provider Coremetrics is aiming to beef up its data-collection products with consumer satisfaction and customer service information, through an alliance with BizRate.com. Los Angeles-based BizRate.com, which operates both a shopping comparison site and an e-commerce research business,…
Consumer confidence in the Internet dropped during the first quarter of 2002, the first such fall noted in Yahoo! and ACNielsen’s quarterly survey. According to the 1,000-person survey, which polls both Internet users and non-users to gauge national consumer confidence…
E-mail marketer and Web publisher Virtumundo is aiming to salvage its image by training its legal guns on the parties it blames for consumer complaints: its list providers. The Kansas City, Mo.-based firm, which distributes e-mail messages on behalf of…
Internet measurement firms RedSheriff and SageMetrics will be partnering to jointly better promote their services to business clients. The deal will see RedSheriff providing its site traffic-measurement and analysis service, while North Hollywood, Calif.-based SageMetrics will bring to the table…
Fast food chain Burger King Corp. said it plans to celebrate the 45th anniversary of its Whopper burger with an online promotional deal in conjunction with New York-based media conglomerate AOL Time Warner. The promotion, based conceptually on sponsored survey…
Network analytics firm NetIQ is teaming up with Scottish database marketer Quadstone to roll out an “all-in-one” offering for tracking and understanding visitors to a company’s Web site. The product, which fuses San Jose, Calif.-based NetIQ’s popular WebTrends product with…
Privacy organizations TRUSTe and ePrivacy Group are set to unveil a seal program designed to help improve consumer confidence in e-mail marketing. The groups’ “Trusted Sender” program, currently in a trial phase, will offer a seal of certification for commercial…
Consumer foods giants Pepsi-Cola and Mars, Inc. are looking to foster greater interaction with consumers through high-profile campaigns centering around online voting. Purchase, N.Y.-based Pepsi, a unit of PepsiCo, has teamed up once more with Yahoo! and pop princess-turned-pitchwoman Britney…
Dow Jones & Co., publisher of the Wall Street Journal, has taken the wraps off its new, much-touted version of the paper’s Web site, complete with several glitches. The redesign of the nearly six-year-old WSJ.com is aimed at fetching more…
Online marketing technology firm Responsys aims to help clients better understand and market to their customers, through the purchase of Web metrics firm NetAcumen. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. The purchase combines Palo Alto, Calif.-based Responsys’ e-mail…
True Audience, an online traffic-tracking venture formed by Real Media founder Dave Morgan, is taking on a new name and new mission, as it expands into a larger market for consumer relationship management and marketing automation applications. Morgan quietly launched…
The New York Times Co.’s online unit is quietly taking steps to better monetize its user base, with new requirements for users and a new tool designed to encourage them to cede more personal information. The company’s NYTimes.com site now…
R.J. Reynolds Tobacco is taking tentative steps into online marketing, with a customer retention program designed to keep its Doral cigarette brand top-of-mind with consumers — by giving them a discount PC. Through an agreement with PeoplePC, which sells low-cost…
Consumers are more confident in the Web, according to the latest findings from a quarterly study conducted by Yahoo! and market research giant ACNielsen. The study, which uses an index to calculate changing opinions, polled 1,000 consumers — not necessarily…
Clearly the economy hasn’t been especially friendly to technology companies during the past year and a half, but a new study suggests that most of those brands didn’t do themselves any favors, either — shooting themselves in the foot by…
Yesmail.com is slated to purchase Netcentives’ e-mail marketing unit, following a Chapter 11 auction conducted last month. The purchase is expected to close on Friday. Chicago-based yesmail.com, a unit of Internet holding company CMGI, declined to comment on the acquisition.…
Online analytics firm Personify is tying the knot with Web marketer Angara, in a bid to offer all-in-one tools for optimizing and targeting Web content to consumers. The merged firm, which will retain the name Personify, also received an undisclosed…
Trust — or the lack of it — is emerging as one of the critical roadblocks to success in e-commerce and online marketing initiatives, according to a recent report by management consultants McKinsey & Co. The report cited a Georgia…
Consumers’ concerns over privacy are taking a massive toll on Internet commerce, with Internet research firm Cyber Dialogue in a recent study putting that total at $3.4 billion yearly. The New York-based research firm interviewed a sample of 500 Internet…
Two competitors in the nascent “e-mail change of address” arena will band together to offer a single service for consumers and marketers, as Return Path and Veripost have agreed to merge. Startups Return Path, headquartered in New York, and Superior,…
Web services firm eSynergies continues its string of acquisitions, on Monday offering to buy e-mail marketing player e2 Communications. The all-stock purchase, specific terms of which were not disclosed, will give Newport Beach, Calif.-based eSynergies access to the approximately 400…
Incentive marketer Netcentives (NASDAQ:NCNT) continued its efforts at restructuring Thursday, laying off 28 percent of its 180-person workforce. Although the firm wasn’t specific about what positions would be cut, it said the jobs affected were not in the San Francisco-based…
Despite their growing use of e-mail marketing, large businesses are facing serious problems that stand to drastically undermine the industry’s long-term effectiveness, according to a new study conducted by IMT Strategies and sponsored by the Direct Marketing Association and the…
Offline couponer Valassis (NYSE:VCI) said it will not continue funding its majority-owned online unit, Save.com — effectively terminating the operation. Instead, Lovonia, Mich.-based Valassis said it would concentrate on its offline businesses while maintaining its minority investment in privately-held Coupons.com,…
E-mail marketer yesmail.com is aiming to beef up its capabilities in CRM, as the customer acquisitions space sees continued weakness. The Chicago-based company, which is majority owned by Internet holding company CMGI, has spent most of its life positioning itself…
Cathay Pacific Airways will give away thousands of Compaq iPAQ Pocket PCs to its premium air passengers who buy round-trip business or first-class tickets for travel from designated cities to Hong Kong. Cathay Pacific is hoping that the success of…
Software firm NeoPlanet — best known for its alternative Web browser — this week unveiled a new suite of marketing products and a deal with PC maker Compaq (NYSE:CPQ) to roll out some of those offerings. The Tempe, Az.-based company’s…
Despite persistent questions about Web ads’ branding power, and in spite of negative consumer reaction to ads like X10’s “pop-under,” Internet users in general actually find Web and wireless ads useful, according to a study conducted in Europe by Datamonitor.…
E-commerce sites are failing to take advantage of a critical channel for their online marketing efforts — word-of-mouth, according to a report from research firm Jupiter Media Metrix. According to the study, 45 percent of consumers choose e-commerce sites based…
E-mail marketing has seen explosive growth during the past year — and doesn’t show any signs of abating, according to analysts at Aberdeen Group. Indeed, in a new study, the consultancy predicts that e-mail marketing will continue booming through 2003.…
AOL Time Warner is throwing marketing muscle behind its partnership with American Airlines, launching a new promotion on Thursday for the pair’s co-branded loyalty program program. The new promotion, “Your Summer Getaway,” aims to boost interest in AOL AAdvantage Rewards…
Web users are likely to purchase consumer packaged goods online, despite well-publicized horror stories from outfits like Webvan and Peapod.com — according to a study from Information Resources, Inc. Between November 2000 and February 2001, about 8,000 primary shoppers were…
Consumers are more likely to purchase from a Web site that’s customized to their individual needs, according to findings from a Cyber Dialogue study this week. The survey, conducted in March by the New York-based research outfit, queried 512 respondents…
Interactive shop iXL Enterprises is aiming to, well, become less of an interactive shop, by shifting away from site design and more to the nitty-gritty areas of Web consulting. To accomplish that shift, it’s hired a stable of executives with…